Mango Baked Chicken
What I Love About This Mango Chicken
I love pairing chicken with sweet, fruity flavors, like in my ginger peach baked chicken and pineapple grilled chicken. A touch of sweetness goes so well with chicken’s mild flavor. This one sears chicken first, then bakes it in a sweet and spicy mango sauce with a squeeze of lime.
- Chicken’s mild flavor is exactly why it pairs so well with fruit. It takes on whatever it’s cooked with, and it has more fat than turkey, so it stays juicy under a sauce like this one.
- Searing the chicken before it goes in the oven builds flavor that baking alone wouldn’t give you.
- I use a whole chicken for this one so everyone at the table gets a choice of light or dark meat, but it works just as well with just chicken thighs.
- Readers keep coming back to say this is their go-to way to make chicken thighs specifically, and I get why. Dark meat holds up beautifully to a sauce this bold.
Key Ingredients and Notes
- Mangoes – you’ll use two: one diced for texture, and one grated into a puree on a fine grater for the sauce base. Grating is a fast way to get puree without pulling out a blender.
- Cilantro – if you’re not a fan, feel free to leave it out. The sauce is still good without it.
- Red pepper flakes – the heat here is mild, not sharp, and balanced out by the sweetness of the mango and the lime juice.
What Kind of Chicken You Can to Use
I like using a whole chicken for dishes like this, since it bakes in the sauce and everyone gets their choice of light or dark meat, just like in my garlic chicken recipe.
- You can also use any single cut: chicken breast, boneless skinless thighs, drumsticks, or bone-in thighs. Sear it first either way, then adjust the bake time for bone-in versus boneless, since bone-in pieces take noticeably longer.
- Bone in: drumsticks, whole chicken pieces, or bone-in thighs. Bake for 40-45 minutes, depending on the size of the largest piece.
- Chicken breast: bake for 18-22 minutes, depending on thickness.
- Boneless chicken thighs: bake for 16-18 minutes.
- Whatever cut you use, confirm it’s done with a meat thermometer reading 165°F at the thickest part, rather than relying on time alone.
How to Make Baked Mango Chicken
- Make the mango sauce – Sauté the diced onion in a saucepot until softened, then add the garlic and diced mango and cook for about a minute. Stir in the mango puree, chicken broth, lime juice, lime zest, ginger, salt, and red pepper flakes. Simmer for 5-7 minutes, then stir in the cilantro and take it off the heat.
- Sear the chicken – Preheat the oven to 375°F. Heat a large, oven-safe skillet over medium-high heat with a little oil. Sear the chicken for a couple of minutes per side, until browned. Searing first is what builds real flavor on the outside before the sauce goes on, instead of the chicken just steaming under the sauce the whole time.
- Sauce and bake – Spread the mango sauce over the chicken and gently shake the pan to help it settle evenly. Transfer to the oven and bake according to the times above for your cut, until it reaches 165°F at the thickest part.
Storing and Reheating Leftover Baked Mango Chicken
- Refrigerator: store leftovers, chicken and sauce together, in an airtight container for 3-4 days.
- Reheating: reheat gently in the oven at 350°F or in a covered pan on the stovetop, with a splash of broth or extra sauce to keep it from drying out. Warm it until it reaches 165°F again, not just until it looks hot.
- Freezer: freeze in an airtight container for 3-4 months. Thaw overnight in the refrigerator before reheating, since the sauce can separate slightly if microwaved
Ways to Serve Mango Chicken
- Coconut Rice – leans into the tropical flavors and soaks up the mango sauce beautifully.
- Rice Pilaf – a light, fluffy option if you’d rather keep things savory instead of sweet.
- Cauliflower Rice – a lighter, low-carb option that still soaks up the sauce well.
- Plain jasmine or brown rice, quinoa, or steamed broccoli all work well too.
Baked Mango Chicken Recipe FAQs
Yes. Follow the recipe through searing the chicken and adding the sauce, then instead of baking, turn the stovetop to low, cover the pan, and cook until the chicken is done.
No, there’s no need to cover it in the oven. Just make sure to use an oven-safe pan.
So jarred mango is usually in some sort of syrup or sugar added, that will not work well in the recipe as it could be to sweet. Frozen mango will work fine, just make sure to thaw first and strain off excess liquid.
More Baked Chicken Recipes From Me
- Sun Dried Tomato Baked Chicken
- Southwest Baked Chicken
- Sesame Baked Chicken Thighs
- Balsamic Baked Chicken Thighs
- Chicken Parmesan
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Baked Mango Chicken Thighs Recipe
Ingredients
Mango Sauce:
- 2 ripe mangoes
- 1 medium yellow onion
- 3 garlic cloves
- 1/2 cup chicken broth
- 1 lime – juice and zest
- 1 tsp grated fresh ginger
- 2 tbsp fresh minced cilantro
- 1 tsp red pepper flakes
- salt
Chicken:
- 2 – 2 1/2 lb whole chicken
- salt
- fresh cracked black pepper
Instructions
Mango Sauce:
- Dice one of the mangoes and onion. Peel the other mango and grate the meat on a fine grater.
- Preheat a medium sauce pot over medium heat and add some oil. Saute onion until softened and add garlic and diced mango.
- Cook for about a minute and add grated mango puree, chicken broth, lime juice, lime zest, ginger, salt, and red pepper flakes.
- Cook over for 5-7 minutes over medium heat. Stir in cilantro and take it off the heat.
Chicken:
- Break down the whole chicken into 10 pieces – 4 quarters of breasts, 2 drums, 2 thighs, and 2 wings. Season each piece with salt and pepper.
- Preheat the oven to 375°F.
- Preheat a large skillet or an oven-safe cooking pan over medium-high heat and add some oil.
- Sear chicken for a couple of minutes on both sides, until browned.
- Spread mango sauce all over the chicken, gently shake the pan to help spread it around, and transfer the pan into the oven.
- Bake for 40-45 minutes.
Nutrition
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Disclaimer: Nutrition information shown is not guaranteed to be 100% accurate as most ingredients and brands have variations.
Cooked in power xl cooker on simmer setting, turned out very nicely. Served with rice and asparagus spears. YUM!
I love hearing that! 😊 So glad it turned out nicely in the Power XL on simmer that is a great tip for anyone wanting to try it that way. And rice with asparagus is such a perfect pairing. Thanks so much for coming back to share! 🙂
Sauce looks great
I will leave out cilantro as I am one of the people that think cilantro tastes like soap YUK!
also i just want the sauce for grilled chicken breast will try it tonight with rice.
Thanks
Thank you! Cilantro is definitely one of those love-it-or-hate-it ingredients! The sauce will still be delicious without it. Hope you enjoyed it with the grilled chicken and rice! Let me know how it turned out!
I like the ideal of this recipe but kept information is missing. How much chicken broth/stock and lime juice. No quantities are given apart from the chicken and mango. I intend to have a go but it could be a bit hit and miss.
Delicious!!! I will definitely make this again. Totally worth the time and effort! I made the coconut rice with it. Very tasty!! Thanks!!
My favorite way to make chicken thighs.
I am so glad you liked the recipe, Jim!
Ingots? Lol
Meant hubby and I both enjoyed this.
.
So glad you liked it!
Delicious! Hubby and ingots enjoyed this. Will definitely make it again. The coconut rice was perfect with it. Thank You
You’re so welcome! I am so glad he liked it!
I had put a little bit of mango in a green salad, and found your recipe while looking for a way to use the rest of it in a sauce for chicken. I had no lime, cilantro or ginger root, so I adapted the recipe to what was in my kitchen. I diced the mango and grated an apple, used bottled lime juice, powdered ginger and the other ingredients as listed. Even with these modifications, the dish was delicious! I reduced the sauce’s liquid by about half in a cast iron skillet and transferred it to a bowl while searing chicken thighs, then put it back over the chicken to bake, and served it with jasmine rice. I’ll make this again using the ingredients as called for, but even with changes, it was excellent.
I am so glad to hear the recipe still worked out! Thanks for stopping by to let me know! 🙂
Can I use shrimp instead of chicken?
miss i found your recipe very interesting and i wanna try this but i have a question what is the altrenative of oven bcz i have a microwave and it is not for baking.what should i do ??
If you have a stove you can convert it to a stove top instead of the oven. Follow the recipe but instead of baking follow the recipe and instead of putting it in the oven turn the stove to low and cover cook until the chicken is done.
Very yummy. Now cooking it for the second Sunday night in a row.
Awesome! I am so glad you like it, Matt!
I thought this was great, and very simple to prepare! I left out the cilantro because I’m one of those that think it tastes like soap, but that was the only deviation from the recipe. I used only chicken thighs and cooked it in my cast iron and it came out beautifully. I served with coconut rice as suggested. Boyfriend loved it too and will definitely make it again!
Hi Bea,
I am glad you liked it! Thank you for the kind words!
This was awesome, neighbor dropped off a few mangoes this am, South Florida, it’s season. I left out the cilantro and used ginger powder, it’s what I had in the pantry. I added just under a tsp of curry powder and served over rice, excellent.
I am glad you enjoyed it, Bill!
I loved this! I did tweak the recipe a little by using boneless skinless chicken thighs (oven time was 15 minutes, followed by 3 minutes under the broiler and 2 minutes in a 450 degree oven). I also used jarred mango slices that we had found at Costco to use some of those up and used a food processor on chop option for the mango that was supposed to be grated. The amount of ginger was probably closer to 1 tbsp since I had a little more to use, and I cut the cilantro down to 1.5 tsps since 2 of the people eating it don’t like cilantro that much. I cut the other mango into about 1/2 inch pieces and added them at the same time as the puree (if the mangoes were fresher and firmer, I would have added them sooner). We served this with coconut rice and it was a huge hit! We will definitely be making this again.
Thank you , Melissa! I am so glad you liked it! 🙂
I made this Mango Chicken today. My husband asked me please don’t make again. I made the coconut rice with it and the same reaction. Mine looked exactly like your picture. I used all chicken thighs since that is what I had and you do say you can use whatever you have. The only difference I made was I didn’t use the red pepper flakes for heat I used a jalapeno pepper (no seeds). Even after putting in his hot sauce he didn’t like it. I wasn’t crazy about it either to be honest. As for the 15 minutes for prep – no way. If you clean your chicken before using and then do the dicing, grating and peeling the mangoes, grating and peeling ginger, etc. it is way more than that. sorry – but will not make again.
I’m sorry I didn’t see your comment earlier, Caroline!
I’m also sorry that you guys didn’t like it. Is there any specific flavors you didn’t like or any suggestions you had? Please let me know
Do you cover the dish for the oven part?
I’m so sorry I didn’t see your comment earlier, Sue! We were having email issues for a few months. No, you don’t need to cover the pan with a lid when you put it in the oven. Just make sure to use an oven safe pan 🙂